Japanese garden

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The garden of the Adachi Museum, Yasugi , Shimane Prefecture

Japanese gardens are an expression of Japanese philosophy and history . Such gardens can sometimes be found on private properties, in city parks, at Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines, and at historical sights such as old castles.

A special form to which many of the most famous Japanese gardens belong is the zen garden in the Kare-san-sui style, in which water and larger plants are completely dispensed with. These rock gardens have also become popular as miniatures in the form of a thirty centimeter wide box for the desk. In the tsukiyama style (artificial mound), on the other hand, mountains are represented by stones and small mounds, and a pond represents the sea. So it is practically a miniature landscape.

Garden construction

Such gardens are usually planned down to the last detail. To fully understand them, it is necessary to learn to “read” them correctly. In addition to the theoretical knowledge of the design and craftsmanship, the builder of the garden must be able to feel comfortable in the given location in order to allow the garden to harmonize with its surroundings.

The gardens are designed in such a way that their visitors can make numerous discoveries. Usually, a look from a different perspective leads to a completely different impression of the same system, which is achieved through an asymmetrical, decentralized arrangement. Bumpy, uneven paths are also popular in order to let the visitor walk through the garden with interest. Straight paths are only used to direct the eye in a certain direction. Depending on the type of garden or the attitude of the visitor, you can - instead of strolling around - sit down in one place and look at the garden in detail and let it sink in.

Interpretations

Stone lanterns in the Japanese part of the Monte Palace Tropical Garden on Madeira

The viewer of a garden can see many interpretations in different elements of a garden . Elements can be viewed and interpreted individually as well as in combination. Despite the exact planning, there are no strict guidelines for the interpretation. In zen gardens, the four elements stone , moss , water and tree occur in particular, the last two only in symbolic form.

For example, stones symbolize animals that are part of nature. However, they were also dedicated to gods descending from heaven. The water stands for lakes or oceans , which can also be dedicated to gods coming across the sea. According to a Chinese legend, a fish that comes up a waterfall turns into a dragon . This dragon gate waterfall is a symbol of enlightenment ( Satori ) in Japan . The moss keeps moisture on the ground and at the same time symbolizes age, which in Japan also means honor. Trees are the symbol of life. They can also be seen as a symbol of being human, as they are part of a whole and at the same time individual. Depending on the desired effect, bonsai can also be used.

Sand, gravel and especially granite gravel, which does not dissipate as quickly, are used to represent water. Waves are modeled with raked lines. Stones on a mountain can be seen as dogs lying down, wild boars or calves playing with their mother. Bamboo is both flexible and stable. Individual sections of the pipe symbolize the generations . Plum and cherry trees bloom and fade over the course of a year, symbolizing transience. Form elements of hills, trimmed hedges or lakes can also enable their own interpretations.

Similar to the gardens as a whole, pools made of man-made natural stone can reflect the unity of controlled and uncontrolled nature. Another possible contrast are evergreen pines next to a plum tree, which represents the dualism of instant and eternity. Stone lanterns or teahouses can also blend into the landscape.

Language of plants

Some plants allow further interpretations by looking at homonyms of their words. Thus, Japanese red pines durable and evergreen, so resistant. The Japanese word for this is similar to matsu (wait); one possible interpretation would be waiting for the beloved. The Japanese word for flowers is hana , which can also mean beauty. Nadeshiko refers to both wild carnations and young girls (cf. Yamato Nadeshiko ).

history

The Zen garden in the Ryōan-ji Temple

The origins of the zen gardens lie in the Chinese gardens around year one, which go back to Taoism and the principle of yin and yang . Around 612, a Korean named Shikomaro (which means ugly Maro ) became famous in Japan for designing impressive gardens. During the Nara period (710 to 794) nature began to be more freely implemented in the garden. In the Heian period from 794 to 1185, the poets emerging during this period were responsible for the gardens. The famous Ryōan-ji temple was built around 1000/1100 . In addition, there was the style of Shoin architecture, through which gardens are only ever viewed from certain angles, but never looking at the whole.

From 1615, during the Edo period , the first gardeners are known to practice their profession as a real profession. A specialization for the smallest details emerged in a short time. Allegedly, Kyoto was spared bombs in 1945 because of the gardens. Today, like in Kyoto, the gardens are green islands in the midst of modern cities that have maintained their tradition and their tranquility.

Nara period (710-794)

Nara, the capital at that time, was a faithful replica of the Chinese capital - the Chinese gardens were exactly reconstructed accordingly. A number of landscaped gardens were created around the imperial palace.

Heian period (794–1185)

Byōdō-in (1052)

During the Heian period, when the capital was relocated to Kyoto , the Japanese gardens were heavily influenced by Chinese gardening , which is characteristic of the so-called Shinden style . They should clarify the cosmic order, the growth and decay, the cycle of the seasons. Above all, however, they served the pleasure of the nobility, who were obsessed with everything Chinese. Complete fishing villages were built on man-made lakes, canals allowed boat trips, people dressed in Chinese costumes and recited Chinese poetry. The religious significance of garden art, which it still had in China, took a back seat in Japan. Heian gardens were mostly colorful, planted with lots of flowers and flowering shrubs, and were ideal for a stroll.

Kamakura period (1185-1333)

Relations with China broke off at the beginning of the 10th century, and when the new capital of the warrior government was established in Kamakura, Minamoto Yoritomo himself supervised the construction of the main garden, which was now part of the monastery and no longer the palace. The era of the decadent courtiers in Kyoto was drawing to a close. A new religiosity also found its way into the gardens. The Zen aesthetic was spread by traveling monks from China and had a tremendous impact on the arts and many areas of life in Japan. The typical Japanese Shoin style develops. Its characteristics are asymmetry, fragmentation instead of extensive landscape concepts, abstraction.

Muromachi period (1333–1573)

The ink paintings of the Chinese Song period (960–1279) in particular gave new impetus to garden art: the gardens should be monochrome like these landscapes. The perspective was conceived for a specific point of view and through "artificial depth", foreshortening or colored tricks (light before dark) a spatial impression was created that often made the gardens appear larger than they actually were. The surrounding wall was mostly densely planted and therefore invisible.

Famous examples are the gardens of Saihō-ji (around 1339), Tenryū-ji (as a transition from Shinden to Zen style, around 1343), the Garden of the Golden Pavilion (or Kinkaku-ji , 1397) and the Garden of the Silver Pavilion (or Ginkaku-ji , 1484).

Convertible gardens

Around 1600 with the rise of the daimyo , a new type of landscape garden called kaiyūshiki teien developed . This is characterized by the generous use of ponds in which there are islands that can be reached via bridges or stone paths. This type includes the Three Famous Gardens of Japan : Kenroku-en , Kōraku-en and Kairaku-en .

Rock gardens

After the Ōnin war , Kyoto was in ruins. There was no money to build new gardens. In the temples, which now had to get along without lavish funding from the aristocracy and rich families, a new, very reduced style developed around 1513: Kare-san-sui , the dry garden made of stones and sand. These famous zen gardens are for meditation only.

Famous are the gardens of the Daisen-in temple with a dry watercourse and the sand cones and especially Ryōan-ji , which with its carefully composed stone islands on a raked sand underground is determined by openness, width and asymmetry, although it is not much larger than a normal tennis court . By radically dispensing with plants (only a little moss around the stones is allowed), the complex gets something timeless and abstract.

Tea gardens

In connection with the tea ceremony , tea gardens are now also developing that take on their own ritual tasks. Around the tea house it is important to create an atmosphere of seclusion from the world, so that the tea guests can come to rest. A waiting bench and a water stone for cleaning your hands are just as much a part of it as the gate through which you enter the tea garden and leave everything worldly behind. The planting with dense bamboo or bushes creates the intended impression of wildness and originality.

gallery

  • Kare-san-sui zen garden in Tōfuku-ji , Kyōto

  • Tsukiyama Garden in Tofuku-ji

  • View from the pavilion of the Keitaku-en garden

  • Japanese garden in Australia

  • Jardin Japonais in Monaco

  • Japanese garden in Augsburg

  • Japanese garden in Erfurt

  • Japanese garden in Kaiserslautern

  • View from the Japanese garden to the Bayer high-rise, Leverkusen

  • Japanese garden of the Würzburg twin town Otsu, former area of ​​the state horticultural show

  • Japanese garden in the "Park of Gardens" near Bad Zwischenahn

  • Japanese garden in Bielefeld

  • Japanese garden in Helwan , Egypt

  • Bonn, Rheinaue, Japanese Garden (aerial view)

  • Freiburg im Breisgau, Seeparkgelände, Japanese Garden

Japanese gardens in Germany

(Only the publicly accessible ones are listed)

Japanese gardens in Austria

(Only the publicly accessible ones are listed)

Japanese gardens in Switzerland

(Only the publicly accessible ones are listed)

Other important Japanese gardens

See also

literature

sorted alphabetically by authors / editors

  • Marie Luise Gothein : History of garden art . 4th edition (reprint). Diederichs, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-00935-0 .
  • Sunniva Harte: Zen in the garden . Ulmer, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3109-9 .
  • Thomas Hoover: The Culture of Zen . 5th edition. Diederichs, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-424-00744-7 .
  • Miyuki Katahira: Constructing the Image of the Japanese Garden . In: Die Gartenkunst  28 (2/2016), pp. 271–278.
  • Günther Nitschke: Japanese gardens . Taschen, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-8228-2032-6 .
  • Irmtraud Schaarschmidt-Richter: Gardens of Silence . Augustus Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-8043-7184-1 .
  • Irmtraud Schaarschmidt-Richter: Garden art in Japan . Hirmer, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7774-8250-1 .
  • Christian Tagsold: Spaces in Translation: Japanese Gardens and the West . University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2017, ISBN 978-0-812-24674-2 .
  • Christian Tagsold: Japanese Gardens Unleashed . In: Die Gartenkunst 28 (2/2016), pp. 293–300.
  • Christian Tagsold: Places of Exotic Strangeness - Japanese Gardens at Exhibitions after 1900 . In: Michiko Mae, Elisabeth Scherer (ed.): Nipponspiration - Japonism and Japanese popular culture in German-speaking countries . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-21019-9 .
  • Jiro Takei, Marc P. Keane: Sakuteiki or the art of the Japanese garden. The rules for layout and design from the historical scrolls of the Heian period . Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-4496-4 .

Web links

Commons : Japanese Garden  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ZEN - Monastery and Japan Garden in Liebenau .
  2. ↑ e-ms.de ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.e-ms.de